"This teaches us not to expect
supplies by miracles, when they may be had in a common way. The word
and ordinances of God are spiritual manna, with which God nourishes
his people in this wilderness. Though often forfeited, yet they are
continued while we are here; but when we come to the heavenly
Canaan, this manna will cease, for we shall no longer need it."

"The manna ceased - Which God
now withheld, to shew that Manna was not an ordinary production of
nature, but an extraordinary and special gift of God to supply their
necessity. And because God would not be prodigal of his favours, by
working miracles where ordinary means were sufficient."

"This abundance of food led to
the discontinuance of the manna; and the fact of its then ceasing,
viewed in connection with its seasonable appearance in the barren
wilderness, is a striking proof of its miraculous origin."

"Every Sunday God offers up a Eucharistic banquet for a bunch of ever-returning sinners, as if it was the first real meal after a barren week. Is not our deliverance at the table so real that we can taste it?"

"The book of Joshua is an edited collection of the old and the new. Ancient traditions are surely part of the whole, but just as surely an editor or two have structured the book to answer certain special theological/historical concerns well after the time of the events portrayed."

Joshua 5:9-12,
The Old Testament Readings: Weekly Comments on the Revised Common
Lectionary, Theological Hall of the Uniting Church,
Melbourne, Australia.

"The themes of this text from Joshua
are clearly recognizable in the Lectionary gospel reading set for March
21st, Jesus? story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11b-32). Jesus? story is
clearly shaped by the experience of the ?lost? children of Israel - the
lost and reclaimed children of the forgiving God."